A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

The ten remaining second-rankers quickly divided themselves in two and moved to deal with Erik and Viljar's groups.

As for Victor, he joined the group going after Erik, as Elora and Emily needed to be taken in alive.

The battlefield was now divided into three parts. On the right, furthest away from the graveyard, and towards Viljar's house, were the Enclave's four shapeshifters, Nora, Viljar, Anne, and Olaf.

They were transformed into their beast forms and stood with their backs against each other, ready to face the five second-rankers surrounding them. It wasn't long before the fighting started and various skills began flying around. The strongest in their group, Viljar took on two opponents, while the others each took on one.

A little further towards the graveyard was Björn, still kneeling on the group in despair and mumbling his daughter's name. Had he not been so lost in his own despair, he might have realized that now, with no one looking after him, would have been a good time to run, giving him a chance to save his daughter on his own.

Although the feasibility of that rescue was debatable, as he had no idea where Alice was even being kept.

A little further still, right in the middle of the battlefield was Frostfang, clashing with the boosted vampire commander, while roaring furiously. Frostfang was clearly the stronger party in their clash, but unfortunately, the commander was focused on defense and not so easy to take down.

The commander's current goal was to delay Frostfang while his remaining ten second-rankers took care of the other two groups so that they could join their fellows in providing him with the power he needed to, hopefully, subdue his opponent.

Finally, on the edge of the graveyard was the third part, consisting of Erik, Emily, and the disguised Astrid.

Six people, including Victor, advanced on them. In total, they were two humans, two vampires, and two already transformed werewolves, which obviously made Victor one of the werewolves, proving once again that wolf-type shapeshifters were the most common in Europe.

Erik shot a worried glance at his uncle but then refocused on the people in front of him. Viljar was one of the most powerful second-rankers Erik had ever fought, and he could only trust that the man would be fine for a while.

Elora decided to voice this same sentiment, "He'll be fine, Erik," she said, soothingly, "Remember we planted a little protection on him and Nora both."

Erik chuckled happily. With his concerns laid to rest, excitement began to fill him. He may have sparred a lot in the last few days, but there was nothing that could beat the adrenalin rush of a true, high-stakes battle.

Astrid and Emily, too, looked like they were rearing to go. Astrid always enjoyed a fight in much the same way as Erik did, although for Emily things were a little different.

The black-haired woman's smile was wide and bloodthirsty.

With the heat of battle nipping on her heels, the corrupted desires that were still a deeply ingrained part of her began to rear their heads again. Before, she would have been more afraid of these feelings, but now, with her trust in Erik skyrocketing after his previous declaration, she was ready to let loose.

Inside Erik's soul, Elora's voice sounded once again in a tone of grim excitement, "Now go show them the power of a future conqueror and two members of his battle harem!"

Erik brandished his hammer and laughed out loud at Elora's use of the term battle harem.

Although he had to admit he liked the idea, and filed it away for later.

The six second-rankers looked at him strangely, but they had no time to think about it, as six black orbs suddenly launched themselves at the two humans among them.

Emily was the first to engage.

Astrid was quick to follow, engaging one of the werewolves and a vampire, while Erik eyed the remaining two with an excited grin.

Victor was one of his opponents and looked at Erik condescendingly. "Just give up and come quietly. I've heard of your high battle prowess, but I doubt you co—"

Before he could finish, Erik disappeared in a flash of lightning and reappeared right in front of Victor, laughing, "Forget it, little toady! Let me show you the difference between you and me!"

Erik's hammer crackled and popped with lightning as he swung it in an arc straight toward his opponent's ribcage.

"You—!" Victor yelped and barely managed to cross his arms in front of him before Erik's hammer reached his chest.

Yet, his flimsy and hasty defense was far too weak.

Erik's hammer broke straight through his posture, and crashed against the man's transformed chest, detonating the concussive lightning blast Erik had been charging.

"Argh!" Victor screamed in pain and surprise as he skidded back, spat out a mouthful of blood, and felt a few ribs snap while his arms were bruised.

"Fucking get him!" Victor barked at the second-rank vampire with him while he spat out more blood.

The vampire looked apprehensive after seeing Erik's strength, but he didn't dare disobey orders and brandished his large sword before charging at Erik.

But Erik barely paid him any attention.

He turned in the vampire's direction, opened his teeth and fang-filled mouth, and touched upon the power of his first rank, ice-affinity Arcanist spell.

An icy blue magic circle formed in front of his face, and Erik howled, causing a mess of sharp ice shards to blast forth and send the vampire flying with various cuts bleeding all over his body.

He wasn't dealt with yet, but Erik now had some freedom to focus on Victor with a sadistic grin. This man had pissed him off quite a bit during these events, and he intended to pay him back.

With interest.

Victor had somewhat recovered by now. His ribs were still broken, but he was no longer spitting blood and his arms weren't bruised anymore, thanks to the high regeneration rate that came from being both a shapeshifter and a Runebound.

Victor stared at Erik with venom leaking from his eyes, before azure-colored runes appeared all over his body.

This time, it was Victor's turn to suddenly disappear, only instead of a lightning flash, there was a powerful gust of wind.

When he appeared in front of Erik, expecting him to be as startled as Victor himself was earlier, all he found was a confident grin and a fist flying at his face.

"Nice try," Erik chuckled as his fist crashed against Victor's face.

With Elora merged with his body and his other advantages, including his vast combat experience from Söl, and the recent improvements he went through thanks to Katya's manual, Erik was a formidable force amongst his peers.

It was unsure if there would be any second-ranker on Earth that could stand against him.

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